Students rise up on college campuses
We asked students to tell us what #blacklivesmatter or unity looks like on their college campuses.
We have done marches, held vigils and spoken to the members of Northeastern community. Every move made is made with each other, reminding each other that our voice matters. Unity is not easy with other negative forces pushing us away from each other, but building real relationships with people we encounter, and keeping those relationships, intact will maneuver us to move mountains.
— Rachelle Pierre, 21, Northeastern University (Collected by Scarlett Ho)
#Blacklivesmatter at the University of Michigan
The Black Lives Matter movement has made me realize the deep importance of the community that we have through Black Student Organizations at Northeastern. As a BSO leader, I feel even more driven to collaborate with others in order to produce events that will raise awareness of the movement to the entire student body.
— DeVicka Cheston, 19, Northeastern University (Collected by Scarlett Ho)
It's definitely significant if one group of people feels the need to accentuate that they matter because they feel, with recent incidents of police brutality, they don't matter as much.
— Melanie Via-Daëns, 20, George Mason University (Collected by Sara Moniuszko)
#Blacklivesmatter. That's not to say that other lives don't matter, because of course all human lives matter. It's just that black lives have been neglected.
— Obum Egolum, 20, George Mason University (Collected by Sara Moniuszko)
The #blacklivesmatter movement is not just about giving marginalized groups a voice. It is also about calling for each member of society to be educated, be aware and, overall, be caring about their communities. Though great strides have been made, in my collegiate community, there is still work to be done in order to make my Midwestern university campus a truly equal place for all individuals.
— Kevin Brown, Wichita State University
The first day of classes last year, we had a walk-out, where everybody got out of class, came out and marched from the top of North Plaza all the way down to the statue. We congregated and listed out all the names that we could list of unarmed African-American lives that were taken by corrupt police officers. It was rather chilling because it really added depth to how large the situation is.
— Jeffery Orlando Johnson Jr., 21, George Mason University (Collected by Sara Moniuszko)